


only when you're here

by theafterimages



Series: frat au [32]
Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fraternity, Background Relationships, Getting Together, M/M, Offscreen Drunk Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 00:20:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9047066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theafterimages/pseuds/theafterimages
Summary: Mark and Jackson start their day in the wrong beds, but end it in the right one. Together. Finally. (Or: yes, it’s true, it’s time for y’all to read about how Mark and Jackson get together in Frat AU.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS. For this year I've actually decided to do a Twelve Days of Christmas event, which means that if all goes well I will be posting a new work every day from now until January 5. Of course I had to start with this, because I was absolutely determined to officially get Mark and Jackson together in this au by the end of the year. I hope it's worth the wait! Thank you to K for looking this over for me, and for two years of Markson (and GOT7 in general) brainstorming. ♥
> 
> This installment takes place the day after [lost for words like you](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8681629), and also references events from [if i'm with you](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5659369) and [i've been waiting](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8648161).
> 
> Frat AU master lists: [by storyline](http://eveninadream.livejournal.com/17207.html) and [by chronology](http://eveninadream.livejournal.com/9888.html).

Mark knows as soon as he wakes up that something is off.

He always wakes up with Jackson, curled up as close as can be in the bed they had bought together. But this morning he’s alone on one side of a bed that is much larger and softer than theirs, although somehow not nearly as comfortable.

He opens his eyes, turns his head, and sees that he’s not completely alone, after all. Chanyeol is on the other side of the bed, burrowed under the blankets and snoring softly. 

Mark blinks at him, struggling to piece together the night before. He remembers the Kappa Tau party, his Spider-man costume; the way Jackson’s eyes were always on him while they pretended they didn’t mind being apart, and then Jackson’s hands were when he returned to Mark’s side. Mark remembers changing costumes at Omega Chi, and then the masquerade, though that party is more a blur of colors and masks and shot glasses than anything. Omega Chi had had the good booze out. All they ever have is good booze. The night had gone on, and Jackson had never shown up, and Mark had kept drinking, and…

He doesn’t remember Chanyeol. But Mark is still fully dressed and his boxers aren’t even sticky, so he can’t imagine they did much more than kiss before falling asleep, if that—

Chanyeol shifts, the blanket slipping off his shoulder just enough to reveal a dark hickey at the join of his neck. Okay, then. There was definitely kissing. 

Mark slips out of bed and into his monogrammed Omega Chi slippers, then creeps out of the room, careful to close the door silently behind him.

He needs to drink less, Mark thinks wryly, rubbing his eyes. Even at parties when Jackson never shows up. Even at parties when Jackson is right there at his side, the only person Mark can see.

Mark just wants to cuddle with Jackson in the megabed for an hour or so, but when he gets back to the apartment Jackson isn’t there. Mark assumes he crashed with one of the other Kappa Taus, and does his best to ignore the jealousy and unhappiness that surges inside him at the idea of Jackson sleeping with anyone else.

Mark showers, then crawls into bed and naps by himself, cuddling Jackson’s pillow.

 

 

 

 

Zitao makes a face while he looks over the pictures Jackson had taken of Zitao and Hongbin kissing the night before. “Why are these so blurry?”

“I was drunk,” Jackson reminds him, stretching his arms some more. He hadn’t done any of his usual nightly stretches before sandwiching himself between Kangjoon and Youngji in Kangjoon's bed last night—seriously, _so drunk_ —and his body isn’t thanking him for any of it.

“I take better pictures than this when _I’m_ drunk.”

Jackson scowls. “You do not,” he lies.

Zitao looks up at him, the corners of his mouth curling into a smirk. “Make out with Mark again and I’ll prove it.”

Jackson yanks his phone away. Zitao doesn’t deserve it. “It never happened!”

“It totally happened,” Zitao insists, for roughly the ten thousandth time since last spring. “Mark was just way too hot for any of us to remember to take pictures.”

“What about me?”

Zitao shakes his head and starts ticking things off on his fingers as he mentions them: “Jackson, he turned your face toward him, kissed you, climbed into your lap, _kept_ kissing you. There was grinding, there was moaning-”

“Not real not real not real!” Jackson insists, loudly enough to hear it over how Zitao’s words have his heartbeat pounding in his ears, and shoves Zitao’s hands away. Then his eyes narrow. “Why do you have to keep talking about Mark, anyway?”

"Because I'm a better friend than you deserve," Zitao says dryly.

 

 

 

 

All the Omega Chi members have to help clean up after a party as big as their annual Halloween masquerade, not just the pledges, so Mark ends up right back there later that afternoon.

He still hasn’t seen Jackson, which he’s trying not to think too much about. It’s not like this is the first time Jackson has stayed at the Kappa Tau house well into the next day after a party, even when it's not because he slept with someone. And even if he did hook up last night, it’s not like Mark had expected Jackson’s celibacy streak to last much longer. Still, he had hoped…

“Can we talk?”

Mark startles at the deep, familiar voice, then turns and smiles up at Chanyeol. “Yeah, come on. I’m stock checking today.”

Chanyeol follows Mark into the Omega Chi coat closet. Neither of them notices another Kappa Tau who’s watching in bewilderment, followed by stunned misery.

 

 

 

 

Jackson runs his hands through his hair with agitation as he turns away from the Omega Chi coat closet. _The_ coat closet, the one where every Omega Chi pretty much has to hook up with someone in. Why it’s a coat closet when the Omega Chi house has so many stupidly fancy rooms is beyond Jackson, but he’s stopped asking questions about this house.

Jackson has been dreading seeing Mark with someone else this year, but he hadn’t expected it to hurt this much, like he can’t breathe. Maybe it’s worse because Chanyeol is a guy, too. Mark had admitted once, back in the spring, that even though he has known that he's bisexual since high school he had never done more than kiss another guy. Jackson isn’t proud of how hearing that had made him feel, or of how he feels knowing that might not be true after today… 

“Was that Mark?”

Jackson startles, then looks up from the floor he’d been unconsciously staring a hole into and meets Yixing’s curious gaze. “Uh, yeah,” Jackson says quickly.

Yixing blinks at the coat closet. “With Chanyeol? Again?”

“What do you mean, again?” Jackson demands in spite of himself.

“They were together last night, too.” Jackson takes a sharp breath at that, immediately haunted by mental images of what that could mean. Yixing tilts his head, studying him. “But don’t worry. He doesn’t want Chanyeol.”

“How do you know?” Jackson asks sullenly. Why wouldn’t Mark want Chanyeol? Jackson never thought about it before, but it makes sense: Chanyeol is tall, handsome, talented, and nice, has a really hot voice and a huge collection of snapbacks… Jackson can’t compete with that. There’s no way.

“I’ll show you.”

For a second all Jackson can think is that Yixing has found some way they can see what Mark and Chanyeol are doing in the Omega Chi coat closet, and that’s the last thing he wants to know. Some of that must show on his face, because Yixing laughs.

“Here, look.” He takes out his phone and beckons Jackson closer.

Even though all he really wants to do is go home and wallow in their bed (what will they do about that if Mark starts dating Chanyeol? Can they keep sharing a bed? Will Jackson have to start sleeping on the couch? _Will Chanyeol take over their bed?_ ), Jackson obediently leans in and watches as Yixing opens a video. It was taken in the Kappa Tau common room, where a large group of members were gathered around and talking loudly—to Mark and Jackson, who were cuddled as close as can be on the couch.

“ _Or you can kiss one of us if you want_ ,” Baekhyun said.

Jackson in the video began to loudly protest; Jackson in real life watches, stunned, as Mark said with quiet certainty, “ _No, just Jackson_.”

“You filmed us?” Jackson laughs now, stunned, not sure what else to do. “Why didn’t you say anything? Everyone’s been losing their shit about this.”

“I’ve been waiting until I thought you were ready,” Yixing says solemnly. “Now you are.”

And then, on the screen, Mark pulled Jackson in and kissed him, the video zooming in to get the best possible angle.

Zitao has told Jackson this story a thousand times, but hearing what Jackson was so sure were exaggerated details is completely different than seeing it all for himself. The way Mark effortlessly took control, took what he so clearly wanted…

That wasn’t just a drunk make out session that rapidly got out of hand. It wasn't even just two people being drunk enough to stop hiding from the feelings they had been trying to bury for so long. That was Mark claiming Jackson. There’s no other word for it.

It's everything Jackson has been trying so hard not to need.

“Zitao never said it was like that,” Jackson says numbly. “I mean, he kept telling me it was hot, but-”

“You weren’t ready to know,” Yixing says.

Jackson swallows, abruptly realizing that he’s touching his lips. What if he's overthinking it? What if this is what Mark is like with everyone? What if this is what Mark is doing with Chanyeol right now? 

“It’s not,” Yixing says like he can read Jackson’s mind. Maybe he can. Nothing about Yixing would surprise Jackson. “I told you, Jackson. He wants you.”

“Not if I waited too long,” Jackson says quietly.

 

 

 

 

“It’s about last night,” Chanyeol says in a rush almost as soon as the closet door closes behind them.

“I was pretty drunk,” Mark admits. “I don’t remember anything.” His gaze drifts to Chanyeol’s shoulder, but the mark he left behind is hidden under Chanyeol’s shirt. He can’t help but think that if it had been Jackson, Jackson would have shown it off for days.

“I was, too, but I remember enough.” Chanyeol grins, hope in his eyes. “You don’t have to start stock checking or whatever right _now_ , right?”

It’s been a while since Mark has kissed anyone, and even longer since it’s been another guy. Not since Jackson, and he doesn’t even remember anything about that, no matter how much he wants to. 

It's been too long, he decides. “I can do it later,” he agrees.

Chanyeol’s smile somehow manages to widen before he leans down, then fades in favor of a drama lead worthy expression as he kisses Mark.

Mark likes making out. He always has. And Chanyeol is good at it; he knows how to kiss, and his big hands are warm and comfortable at Mark’s waist. But when he starts to back Mark toward the settee, Mark balks.

“I can’t,” he says, pulling away.

Chanyeol startles. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t—I should have said. I don’t just want to hook up or whatever. I mean, I do, but… Do you want to go out sometime?”

Mark finally recognizes what has been so weird about Chanyeol today—he’s being shy. “Chanyeol…” he begins. He can’t fault his drunk self’s taste. Chanyeol is handsome and nice and fun to be around. Last year Mark probably would have been down for a quick hookup with Chanyeol. Maybe even for a date or two. But this year is different, somehow.

“I can’t,” Mark says carefully.

“Because of Jackson?” Chanyeol asks, his smile vanishing. 

There’s no point in denying it. Everyone knows what’s going on with him and Jackson. “Yeah.”

“Has he even asked you out yet? Or are you just going to wait forever?”

“Don’t be a dick,” Mark says mildly.

“I’m not…” Chanyeol breaks off, and then smiles a little. “You’re right. Sorry. But I’m serious—what are you guys waiting for?”

He’s not the first person to ask Mark that; hell, he’s not the first person to ask Mark that this week. Mark wonders, sometimes, who will be the last.

 

 

 

 

Jackson scrolls through his phone. Bambam has sent him some more texts, asking if Jackson has any other pictures of himself in his Batman outfit. Maybe Jackson should call him. He misses Bambam. But he can’t think of anything to talk about other than Mark, and he’s sure Bambam has better things to do than listen to that.

He can hear Jinyoung and Jaebum through the wall, talking inaudibly in Jaebum’s room. Then he hears Jinyoung’s quiet laughter, and then nothing at all until the familiar sound of Jaebum’s mattress shifting under their weight. Living with them and seeing them together at last has been nice and shitty at the same time; Jackson is really glad to see them so happy and settled, especially after what happened between them during Kappa Tau’s formal last year. But it kind of twists the knife, too, knowing that maybe that’s what he and Mark could be like if Jackson wasn’t so scared…

Like Mark knows what he’s thinking, somehow, that’s when their bedroom door opens and he steps inside. He doesn’t _look_ like he’s just had incredible gay sex for the first time, but maybe Jackson needs glasses even more than everyone thinks he does. 

“Where’s Chanyeol?” Jackson asks him.

“I don’t know," Mark says as he shrugs out of his jacket. "Omega Chi, I guess.”

“Still in the closet?” 

Mark goes still, hands clutching at his jacket, and then drops it entirely. “Who told you?” 

Jackson sighs. “Nobody. I saw you. Congratulations.”

“For what? Nothing really happened.”

“What about last night?”

Now it’s Mark’s turn to sigh. “I don’t remember, but I think we just kissed and fell asleep.” Jackson barely has time to feel relieved before Mark adds, “Chanyeol asked me out, but I said no.” 

“Oh,” Jackson says quietly. That doesn’t mean Mark won’t say yes later, to Chanyeol or to someone else who is—

“Because of you.”

Jackson’s eyes widen. It's not like he doesn't know how Mark feels, and it's not like he isn't sure Mark has known for a long time that Jackson likes him back, but hearing Mark say it... “ _Oh_.”

Mark takes a deep breath, and then _keeps talking_ , every word making Jackson’s heart pound harder. “I really like you, but I know you’re not ready. I don’t want you to feel like you have to—”

“You’re one of my best friends,” Jackson says weakly. “If we… what if it doesn’t work out?” 

“I don't know,” Mark says, his voice soft but firm. “Jackson... you know how I feel. I’ll keep waiting, but I can’t forever. So I need you to decide, okay—what do you want?”

Jackson hesitates. It’s not like any of his old fears are better—he still wonders what if they break up, what if their friendship is destroyed? He’s gone through breakups before, and none of them have ever been easy. It’s not something he can get used to, the transition from someone being so important to him to being someone he feels awkward around and distant from. He doesn’t want that with Mark, ever. He can’t even picture it. Panic just floods through him every time he tries to imagine Mark being someone he used to know. 

But today has given him more to worry about: what if Mark meets someone else? What if Jackson misses his chance? What if the next time Jackson sees him with someone, it’s because Mark really has moved on?

They stare at each other, and then Mark sighs. “I’m going to go,” he says quietly, turning away.

And something about the finality of it, the defeated slope of Mark’s shoulders and the idea of him _walking away_ , the idea of him giving up and leaving Jackson—

For all the thinking and worrying and stressing Jackson has done about this, suddenly it’s so, so simple: Jackson is scared of all the ways this could go wrong, sure. He always will be. But it’s suddenly so clear to him that he isn’t sure why it took him this long to see it: he’s more scared of losing his chance to try being with Mark at all.

“Mark, don’t, wait—” Jackson makes it across the room in two quick strides, and keeps moving, cups Mark’s curious face in his hands and kisses him. 

Jackson has imagined this a hundred times, a thousand times—a thousand times a day, it seems like—has spent so much time resisting the temptation of Mark’s plush, gorgeous mouth that he can’t fully believe this is happening; that Mark's lips feel softer than he ever imagined, that Mark is really making a quiet sound and opening up to him, as desperate as Jackson feels, his hands clutching at Jackson’s sides as the kiss deepens.

Jackson can’t imagine it ever being like this with anyone else, or ever wanting to find out if it could be. He hopes Mark can’t, either.

They finally break apart, panting for air. Jackson touches his forehead to Mark’s as they breathe together, not ready to go any further from him than that. Maybe he never will be again.

“I meant go play Mario Kart,” Mark says dazedly. “JB, uh, wanted to before, so.”

"Oh." With effort, Jackson drags his eyes away from Mark's red, parted lips, and shivers when he sees how intently Mark is looking at him. Like Mark needs this as much as Jackson does. "Uh. If you still want to-”

Mark shakes his head immediately. "No, this is good."

"Okay, good,” Jackson says, relieved, and Mark laughs. 

Jackson isn’t really sure who makes the first move this time, but then they're kissing again, thoughts of the rest of the world soon forgotten. Mark walks Jackson back until the backs of Jackson's knees bump against the bed; he lies back on it carefully, trying to kiss Mark as much as he can through it all, and pulls Mark down on top of him. Once they’re settled, Mark presses his face against Jackson’s neck and Jackson wraps his arms around Mark, his whole body easing. This is where they belong, just like this.

“I wanted this all day,” Mark mumbles, like he’s reading Jackson’s mind.

“Me, too,” Jackson says softly. His heart is thundering, but even that starts to quiet, only to redouble as Mark starts kissing his way along Jackson’s collarbone.

“Mark?” he murmurs, curling one hand against the back of Mark’s neck, letting the other slip under Mark’s shirt.

“Hmm?” Mark nips playfully at the base of his throat. Jackson imagines him leaving marks, showing everyone that Jackson is _his_.

“I’m…” He swallows, staring down at Mark. He still can’t believe this is really happening, or how good it feels, to finally be Mark’s. “I’m glad you waited.”

Jackson is pretty sure he’s never seen Mark smile as happily as he does then, bright and warm and all for Jackson.

 

 

 

 

Jackson Wang is a man on a mission.

He tows Mark to the Omega Chi coat closet, ignoring how Mark laughs at him the whole way. “Really?” Mark teases once they’re inside, the door locked behind them.

“Every Omega Chi hooks up in here, right?” Jackson reminds him.

“I don’t know, Jinyoung might have exaggerated,” Mark says. He can’t stop smiling, the now familiar warmth flooding through him as Jackson backs him against the door, bracketing him between his arms and leaning in.

“But a lot of them do?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“So you should, too,” Jackson says firmly. 

“You just want everyone to know we fucked in here,” Mark teases. Jackson does have a mile-wide possessive streak, which Mark loves almost as much as Jackson loves knowing Mark has one to match.

Jackson’s jaw drops, an expression of exaggerated surprise crossing his face. “How could you say that? I’m doing this for _you_ , Mark.”

Mark laughs. “What a sacrifice.”

“I’d do anything for you,” Jackson promises, not sounding half as teasing as Mark had expected.

“Me, too,” Mark tells him quietly. Jackson leans his forehead against Mark’s and they just breathe for a few seconds, smiling at each other, before Mark cups his hands against Jackson’s face and claims a kiss.


End file.
